DTM rookie Tom Blomqvist feels the dry weather pace he showed on debut provides a good platform to build on, despite his troubled Hockenheim races.
Signed by BMW after finishing second in the European Formula 3 Championship last season, the 21-year-old showed promising form during pre-season testing, including topping a day of running at Oschersleben.
While BMW’s drivers struggled to get single-lap speed out of its M4 at the season opener, Blomqvist had a solid weekend, setting the third-fastest time in second practice.
On Saturday, he qualified ninth, just 0.048s shy of third in a condensed top 10.
“I was quite confident coming into the weekend because testing’s gone OK, but you never know where you stand, really,” he said.
“The pace I showed against my team-mates was really strong in dry conditions.
“It looked like we were one of the quickest, so the pace is there in the dry, I’m sure.”
However, Blomqvist retired from the race due to damage incurred on the opening lap, and he was 17th in the wet on Sunday, having never driven a DTM car in the rain before the weekend.
Blomqvist says lessons can be learned from both races ahead of his second round at the Lausitzring later this month.
“I got a bad start on the Saturday and that put me into the war zone,” he told AUTOSPORT.
“I got some contact from the rear, on the right, which pushed me into another car so I had contact on the front.
“Then I got another hit and the car was too damaged to continue.
“Obviously I didn’t have much of an idea about the racing before this weekend, so it was good to gain that experience.
“The racing is quite rough and quite tough, and that’s cool.
“I struggled quite a lot in the wet, [team-mate] Augusto [Farfus] had a tough weekend also, so it was really hard out there but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”
